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Talking College football playoff expansion and more
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Don and Russ talk about possible CFP expansion in 2026, NIL situation involving Nico Iamaleva and more.
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Transcript
Episode Introduction and Topics Overview
00:00:03
Speaker
So you want to, like I said, i'll we'll do the intro and then I'll just lead into you and let you okay let you work with the with the whole college football playoff thing since that's the latest and greatest.
00:00:15
Speaker
We'll talk about Nico a little bit, maybe some new other transfer portal stuff if we got it. And then we'll just kind of end on the pairings for the college baseball and college softball World Series.
00:00:29
Speaker
okay Don't have to know anything about it. We'll just figure we'll just let them know that it's going on. Well, I don't know much about it. but I don't either. go I want to do a softball thing one of these times, but I got to get my daughter in on it because she's the one keeps up with all that
Weather Talk and Missouri Boot Hill
00:00:44
Speaker
stuff. I don't. I mean, you know. Yeah.
00:00:46
Speaker
So, okay. Go on. Well, thank you again to Devin Tynan for his wonderful introduction to our program. This is the NCAA report with Don and Russ.
00:01:01
Speaker
And as always, my partner, compadre, and oh, all around good guy, Russ Robinson is with me today. hi is everything down there Missouri?
00:01:14
Speaker
yeah Well, pretty good, Don. rather the Rough weather a couple weeks ago. Yeah, we did. we had some, what you know, kind of comes and goes here. seems like it's been a rough spring, but the weather's warm. It's kind of cleared up. So, you know, we were kind of settled into this low to mid 80s degree weather here. So it's it's it's gotten kind of typical, but we we we were a lot of storms, lot of tornadoes.
00:01:38
Speaker
It seemed like we had a really rough spring down here. We were forced to hit where I live. We didn't get hit. We were four, but some others, some other communities got hit with the tornadoes and stuff. so yeah know where It's been kind of a rough spring. Where is it about Missouri you're at?
00:01:51
Speaker
ah live it I'm in the Missouri Boot Hill. Oh, you're in the Boot Hill by Arkansas? Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, they've had a pretty rough time of it down here. I got you. I got you. I got you. Yeah, I saw some of the reports from Chesterfield, I think it was, and man, that area got hit.
00:02:09
Speaker
So I'm glad you got a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. they Yeah. So I'm glad I'm glad you're OK. I'm thankful for that. ah So anyway, this is the NCAA forward Don and Russ, as I said, and ah we are still a proud part of the Gateway Sports Network.
Gateway Sports Network Involvement
00:02:28
Speaker
Gateway Sports, you can find a lot of.
00:02:31
Speaker
podcasts and articles and all sorts of different things covering it. We've even got some high school picks of, uh, Gene Bonds does a great job. I'm, uh, doing a, uh, it's a photo journalism thing he does with a high school baseball and football. And he does a very good job with that, but we've got so anything you want to look at in the realm of sports in and around the city of St. Louis and the bi-state area of Illinois and Missouri.
00:02:58
Speaker
So check it out at gateway sports.net. Well, Russ, it's been a couple, couple of weeks since we've just been, it's been you and me actually a couple of shows, a bit about a month, actually.
00:03:10
Speaker
ah So we've got some longstanding stuff. We need to clear off the docket so we can get ready for summer here. So ah you've got some interesting, yeah interesting news on the college football playoffs. why don't you lead off with that and let us know where we're going.
College Football Playoff Expansion Discussion
00:03:27
Speaker
Well, I think in in one of they already want to expand it after one year to 16 teams. and well According to what I'm seeing, it won't be in 2025, but possibly possibly very possibly in 2026, if they can come to some sort of understanding of how they're going to do the seedings.
00:03:45
Speaker
Right. And there's a there's a couple of different proposals right now out there debating. One that's backed by your Big Ten, is they call it the, let me pull it up here, Don. It's called the,
00:04:03
Speaker
shoot, hold on just second. I have it here. It's called the 442, I think, seeding, where actually the Big Ten and the SEC, 4-4, here it is, 4 plus 4 plus 2 plus 2 plus 1.
00:04:21
Speaker
What it recommends is the Big Ten is recommending is that there'd be four automatic bids given to the Big Ten and to the SEC.
00:04:32
Speaker
Two each for the ACC and the Big 12 and one for the top conference champion from the other six leagues. And that's what they call it, the four plus four plus two plus two plus one.
00:04:44
Speaker
The other proposal that's backed by actually ah some of the other conferences, the Big 12 and the ACC, and the SEC seems to be leaning toward it, is called the 5 plus 11 plan, which actually the five highest-rated conference champions would get an automatic bid, and then the 11th highest-ranked at-large teams would enter at that enter into the playoffs.
00:05:12
Speaker
So they call that the 5 plus 11. ah Like I said, this is really being pushed by the Big 12 and the ACC. And according to what I'm reading, SEC is leaning toward this plan also.
00:05:27
Speaker
So that's kind of where it's at. I think I would leave that plan myself. so um So I'm assuming then that the Big 10's plan, since I did the math, and I know it's been a long time since I've done math and on paper, but um I want to come up with – um 13 teams. So they, I would imagine there's three at large bids with the big 10 plan. then Now let's see here. What it says. I, like I said, I read that this morning, Don. And so i was, uh, it's called the four plus four plus two plus I tried. There's 13 teams.
00:06:03
Speaker
Um,
00:06:06
Speaker
One of the, for the top conference champion from the other six leagues. Right. So I'm guessing that, yes, that you're right. The format allows for three at large. Yeah. Cause, cause otherwise, otherwise Notre Dame would have a big stink, big stink about that.
00:06:23
Speaker
Yeah. they are no so that They are not necessarily aligned with a conference. They would not qualify. Yeah. i so well I don't know. i I think I like the five. I think I like the the big 12 ACC plan the best um because that just seems a little bit more like everybody gets involved and you don't have this elite because yeah the one thing i and I.
00:06:50
Speaker
i i you know I may be in Big Ten country, but don't necessarily always agree with what they say. um You know, saying that, you know, and I'll get, and I granted, granted, it's probably going to end up that way, that you're going to have at least four teams in the Big Ten, four teams in the SEC. That's probably the way it's going to end up.
00:07:11
Speaker
um But to say that that's the way it should be, um you know, I do have issues with that. I mean, because if you look at it, um yes, ah ah the the major players, if you will, in college football reside in two conferences.
00:07:34
Speaker
<unk> yeah know Big 10 SEC. I mean, outside of ah Arizona State, who, you know, showed up this year.
00:07:45
Speaker
um Duke's had a pretty good run. um Kansas, Kansas State, but, you know, the Iowa State. But those guys are not what you would consider. At least I don't think I would consider them ah football powerhouses or um ones that could survive in an SEC Big Ten environment.
00:08:12
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Now, before before, you know, Kansas fans start yelling at me and and threatening to bomb my house, ah you know, i look at the records. That's all you got to do. Go back and look at the records. And I'm not saying that that a um ah Kansas is any worse than any of the low-level Big Ten teams like a Rutgers or a Purdue or anybody like that or ah Vanderbilt and the SEC or anything.
00:08:43
Speaker
um What I'm just saying is that you don't normally see and you haven't seen since we've had all that conference realignment um back years ago when um you know teams left the Big 12 for the Big 10 and the SEC. Missouri went to the SEC. Nebraska went to the Big 10.
00:09:04
Speaker
ah you know that That conference has been kind of watered down. Now, like I said, they had a wonderful resurgence here, to thanks thanks on a large part to having ah those four teams from the Pac-12s or whatever it was, um come over.
SEC Play-in Games and Playoff Seeding Issues
00:09:20
Speaker
you know And next year it's going to be even a little bit more more fun, I guess, when you start seeing some of these other teams that are leaving the Mountain West for the new Pac-12. And I still wonder how that's going to get figured in eventually.
00:09:34
Speaker
are are they going to be Are they going to be considered, if if they go to this SEC model, um or if they go to the SEC, but if they go to, say, with the Big Ten model, are they going to be considered one of those other conferences that's going to be part of this ah mixture? You know, I think there's a lot of... i Personally, I don't see a reason to expand to 16 conferences for another couple years, at least I would say, wait till after 26, for you to think about expanding to 16. I mean, let's get, let's get the process on the 12, right. First, and then we can talk about expanding to 16.
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah. You know, and I'm not sure that, you know, they're talking 26, but I'm not sure they can hash everything Cause They want everyone to be on board. i don't want it They don't want force this down anybody's throat.
00:10:29
Speaker
And so I think the SEC is kind of trying to play the maybe the the the moderator on this because, like I said, they they see the advantage for them of the 4-4-2, 4-4-2-2.
00:10:47
Speaker
But they also, Greg Sankey said he actually thought that the five plus eleven would not hurt the SEC that much, he thinks they can get there just get their teams in.
00:10:58
Speaker
He is pretty confident that either way they're going to get their teams in. So I think what he's expecting is maybe, you know, if the four guaranteed slots, then plus the three and in the Big Ten plan, the four guaranteed slots the SEC would get plus – the three at large, which they wouldn't get all of those.
00:11:21
Speaker
He's thinking that there might be a year in the 16 team where they could get six or more in it. So, I mean, I'm thinking he's thinking that strong. I think he's thinking that might be better to go with the 5-11.
00:11:33
Speaker
But I think the whole point of it is what the Greg Sankey and the SEC is looking at is trying to keep everybody on board and not – alienate people or make people you know really two too mad out there. So well it's ah it's in discussions, Don. I don't think that nothing's been finalized yet.
00:11:53
Speaker
There's a lot of things. One of the interesting things that the SEC is talking about, and they had SEC meetings at the end of May invest in Dustin, Florida, the ADs and the i think in the school presidents,
00:12:08
Speaker
and one of the things they're talking about with this playoff situation is the SEC maybe established some play-in games to get to this college football playoffs within the conference, set up something like that.
00:12:23
Speaker
Instead of, ah I don't know they talking about doing away with the conference championship game and set up play-in games, ah you know, and then, you know, do something like that. Like I said, it's in the it's in the discussion stage.
00:12:36
Speaker
But it's all about trying to get as many, for them, get as many teams in as possible. And the money aspect of it. And I can see that. i can see that. And I can actually see that working to a certain extent. You take, say, the top eight teams and you set like a little mini playoff, you know, one versus eight, two versus seven, da-da-da-da.
00:13:00
Speaker
And whoever wins those four games, you know, are – You know, are they representative of a representative of the conference? I mean, that if they'd have done something like that this year, i think that would have settled the debate between, uh, South Carolina, Ole Miss and Alabama. yeah I think that would have settled that debate really quick.
00:13:27
Speaker
I think the same thing with the same thing could have been true in the big 10. I think if you would have had, if you would have added say, um, Illinois and, uh, you know, Michigan,
00:13:40
Speaker
ah to the mix, I think, which were the next two schools besides the the top four that made it, um you know, and had a little mini playoff there, you know, Indiana might not have been made the, you know,
00:13:53
Speaker
the play trust you know um it's, it's a, it's an interesting concept. And I think, and like you said, I don't think they're going to get it solved anytime in the next 12 months. So that it'd be ready for, it for 2026. But, you know, it is good that they are looking at it. But I, like I said, I think the first thing they need to do is figure out this whole seating thing, because I think that was the one thing. If I had to pick one item, I think from this last playoff, um,
00:14:22
Speaker
that uh most fans were probably upset about and it was the way the teams were seated yeah you know that i think there's no there's no way arizona state is a top four seed in any imagination of college i mean right there they're the that's right and you know, and Boise State. Didn't they get a bye too?
00:14:45
Speaker
Boise State got a bye. Yeah, Boise State got bye. Yes, yes, Boise State got a bye. Actually, take that back. ah Arizona, wait a minute. No, Clemson was the was the fifth team in, and they ended up, what, 12th, I think. So, yeah, it was because the top four were um Oregon, um Georgia, Georgia,
00:15:11
Speaker
No, Georgia. Yeah, Georgia. Okay. Georgia. Or no, was it Texas or Georgia? It's probably Texas. think it was Texas. You're right. I think it was Texas. Yeah, it was Oregon, Texas.
00:15:23
Speaker
um
00:15:26
Speaker
Arizona State and Boise State were the top four. Yeah. And then um and then the the fifth automatic qualifier was Clemson from the Yeah. from the hccc um But, you know, like i said, once they get that figured because that's the formula they got to figure out. And and and and I've said this before, and i and I think hopefully that's the way they're leaning, is to just do it like they do with college basketball.
00:15:54
Speaker
And you've got, you know, your top, whether it's 12, 16, whatever, you take your final rankings and that's your seeding. They're not necessarily at your seating, but you take the top, say the top 20 teams, you get them inside, you get all of the selection committee in the room, and then they seed it 1 through 16 or 1 through 12 or whatever the case may be.
00:16:20
Speaker
um And ignore conference championships, um not necessarily completely, but ignore them in the fact that you know the scc champion the ACC champion doesn't necessarily deserve a top four seed.
00:16:34
Speaker
Right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so or the I guess Boise State was Mountain West. And they were though they were they were the group of five representatives, group of five representatives. So, I mean, you know just yeah, you know, so, yeah, they need to rework that. Now, I think they will.
00:16:55
Speaker
I don't know they'll do it by 25 or not. You know, we're kind of late in the process for them to do something like that. But it's
Future Playoff Formats and New Conferences Discussion
00:17:03
Speaker
been. But anyway, 26. Keep an eye. I think we should keep an eye on 20. See what happens.
00:17:07
Speaker
Yeah, well some we'll definitely have to take a look at this down road and see what what happens. Like is that I said, I do like the 5 plus 11 idea. I think that's interesting. um And like I said, we'll have to see how it plays out because with the reverbed Pac-10 coming available, I guess, by 26 is when they're slated to actually start as a conference. Yeah.
00:17:33
Speaker
i call As I call it, the PAC state conference, because every team is a state of some kind, Washington state, Fresno state, all that. So, um but, you know, it'll be interesting to see how they fare.
00:17:47
Speaker
And if they eventually get added in we and we go back to a power five. I don't likely really, at least not for a few years.
00:17:58
Speaker
But, you know, hey, is stranger things have happened in college football. Sure. Sure. um Speaking and we'll stay with college football for the moment. um Something you sent me a while back.
00:18:12
Speaker
Or I sent you. I can't remember who. it's been a bug if It's been a month since we've tried to come up with a show idea. so because we've had the And I have to say, to stop right now for a little quick, the last two guests we've had, ah Brian Smith and Tony Altimore, I think were both fantastic guests. And if you guys haven't heard those, go check it out. You can go to Gateway Sports and look it up. Look up the NCAA Report podcast.
00:18:35
Speaker
Or you can go to Spotify.com. and look it up on Spotify. They were both very good guests. They gave us some very good information on recruiting on the NIL and things like that. And the NIL, something we're going to be talking about now is that ah I know we're kind of late in the game of talking about it and it's been hashed over by others, so we're probably not going to give you any different
Nico Iamaleava's Transfer and NIL Controversies
00:18:58
Speaker
information than what you've already heard in many respects.
00:19:02
Speaker
um But the NICO... I am a Liva controversy between Tennessee and UCLA that got a lot of press when it came out.
00:19:17
Speaker
It sure did. Yeah. He wanted, the report was that he wanted at least $4 million NIL deal to stay at Tennessee.
00:19:29
Speaker
ah which would have put him, according to the report from yeah ESPN, would have put him in line with other deals from transfer court that were garnered by transfer quarterbacks Carson Beck, who ended up going to Miami, and Darian mensahh or Mensah, who ended up going to Duke during the winter portal.
00:19:53
Speaker
um The report says that I am a Liva was set to me. And I hope I'm pronouncing that right. If I if I'm making if I'm pronouncing that wrong, please either let me know or don't or tell the guy not to get upset with me. i don't know him.
00:20:06
Speaker
So but he's got to make around two and two point four million at Tennessee this past this upcoming season. ah And again, he was seeking four million.
00:20:21
Speaker
And I guess he shut off talking to coaches. He wouldn't take phone calls. ah Supposedly someone or spokesman or a source close to the quarterback said that he was taking a mental break.
00:20:36
Speaker
God, how why have we gone that far that mental breaks are now a part of sports? I just don't see that. Yeah. um And and but of course, that was after they lost to Ohio State in the first round of the college playoffs, 42 to 17.
00:20:53
Speaker
um Now, Tennessee sources said they believe Amalewi. I'm a leave us reached out to several schools, including Miami, Ole Miss, Oregon to gauge interest.
00:21:08
Speaker
ah Josh Hopel was seemingly able to smooth things over and keep Nico on board for 25. But then when he didn't get the new deal, he decided he wanted to leave.
00:21:21
Speaker
Now, the interesting part about all this to me is, and it goes on further in an article and we'll get to it a second. was that he left Tennessee because they weren't going to give him $4 million. dollars He signs with UCLA,
00:21:37
Speaker
ah and his NIL deal over there is only 1.5. Yeah. yeah So somebody's lying to somebody somewhere is what i is is the way I'm looking at it right away.
00:21:51
Speaker
um And yeah as it kind of goes on here, um The day that I'm a leave was a no-show at Tennessee, and I guess that was for their spring game, UCLA coach Deshaun Foster spoke with ESPN about the start of the Bruins' spring practice session.
00:22:15
Speaker
Foster completed his first full-off season, and he'd hired new offensive coordinator, Tino Sanceri, from Appalachian State. And then also, it looks like they had a transfer in there, Aguilar, who was supposed to be the incoming quarterback, Joey Aguilar.
00:22:36
Speaker
He was also from Appalachian State. um But at at the end of the day, it seemed, as they say, it says in the report, it seemed UCLA's quarterback situation seemed foggier because of what was happening over in Knoxville. Mm-hmm.
00:22:56
Speaker
Now, sources have said that him I'm a leave was confident he could get a deal for $4 million in his next school. But the pro and here's where here's where I think the problem and why he had to settle for the $1.5 million.
00:23:11
Speaker
According to SEC rules... because he waited until the spring to ah enter the transfer portal, he could not transfer to an SEC school and play right away.
00:23:24
Speaker
He would have to. Yeah. Because of their, their, uh, rules. Yeah. So I think maybe that's something that hurt him in his pursuit of going in other places, going other places, especially to some place of a power that has some type of powerful structure.
00:23:43
Speaker
Um,
00:23:46
Speaker
Let's see. Sources at USC, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Texas Tech, and several other powerful told they weren't getting involved. So some of these, and and and like I said, so some of these schools were just washing their hands completely of it and saying, we're not even in the mix. Don't even talk to us.
00:24:02
Speaker
So, you know, you're you're wondering just how, I mean, do i mean you're the SEC guy. Do you know how how ah how all that thing soured so quick?
00:24:14
Speaker
but I think Tennessee jumped quick to let them go quicker, maybe than he was expecting or they'd let off. He probably thought he could leverage that for some more money.
00:24:24
Speaker
and And Tennessee wasn't going to play that game. Josh Heupel got a lot of cheers from other SEC coaches for standing firm. ah you know, and and just that they didn't say, hey, we're just going to give you what, four million, take it or leave it. They just let him go.
00:24:41
Speaker
You know, I mean, they sent him on his way when he started playing that game. So I think, you know, I think that's what um the quarterback's representatives were counting on was that they get in a negotiating game with Tennessee again, they'd up their ante or something like that, and they just refused to do it.
00:25:01
Speaker
And then I guess other schools refused to jump on board. Maybe they're trying to get some sort of grip on all this and not go crazy, you know, with a guy who probably is a good quarterback but isn't worth – certainly not worth more than $4 million. dollars i mean, you know, I mean, it's really hard to judge this NIL and put a value on everything because things are so out of so out of whack right now.
00:25:28
Speaker
They're probably players. but So I just think that I think he played a game, and I think it came crashing down on him. So he's over at UCLA for $1.5 million with no one else offering him.
00:25:40
Speaker
So, you know, right heavy had he been a super quarterback? Had he been something like, a you know, had he been a Peyton Manning or maybe somebody like that?
00:25:51
Speaker
Or even an Arch Manning. Right. You had he been an Arch Manning, maybe they maybe they they play that game. You know, maybe they – Or the the two guys that he was trying to get in line with and in terms of – uh, you know, like Carson Beck and, and there's a Darian, uh, men shot Mensa.
00:26:10
Speaker
Um, you know, I mean, he's trying to get their kind of money. He thinks he's as good as they are. I mean, it's the kind of, it's kind of the same thing and I hate to bring it up, but it's kind of the same thing. It should do her Sanders. Um, you know, trying to go to the NFL and trying to figure out why in the hell, why in the hell he waited, they teams waited until the sixth round to draft him.
00:26:29
Speaker
Well, you know, I'm sorry, but I've read all the reports and, he interviewed horribly, you know, basically he went in and said, well, you got to take me, you know, I'm, I'm the best quarterback available. Obviously he wasn't like five others went ahead of him, at least that I know of.
00:26:47
Speaker
Yeah. You know, he just wasn't, he wasn't prepared. He wasn't ready to to go. through He didn't, he didn't honor the process, I guess, you know, we go, everybody goes through and interviews with these teams.
00:27:01
Speaker
Right. Four teams are going spend millions of dollars on ah on a draft pick. They want to know what they're getting. They're going to get a mature guy. or sn snap and Apparently, he didn't take it seriously enough.
00:27:11
Speaker
And he got left out. Which is surprising, being that you know who his father is. Yeah. yeah Yeah, you would have thought that Dion knows the process. He went through it himself when he was – got drafted out of Florida State.
00:27:29
Speaker
So he knows that. So you yeah, you are surprised. You don't know what's going on behind the scenes there, but yeah, you are surprised. So anyway. Yeah, my and death should do are good to stay another year in college you know I think I think it would have been better off doing that as well. You know, that's so ask I kind of draw the the parallel because, you know, with the I am a leva, you know, he already had it in his mind or at least his handlers did his family. Whoever was advising him already had it in his mind that, you know, you know you're going to get this money someplace else.
00:28:04
Speaker
And I'm just reading this. I'm reading, I guess they contacted the, the family contacted, uh, university of Oregon in March and the Oregon staff contacted Tennessee and said, tell them not to call us anymore. We're not interested.
00:28:20
Speaker
Yeah, right. You know, so so, I mean, so you you kind of wonder was I leave, I'm gonna leave a saying, hey, I want to, I don't want to play in Tennessee anymore. I want to play for you, but I would like the, I want $4 million NIL.
00:28:36
Speaker
You know, and the school went, you see, your name's not Carson Beck. Your name's not our. Yeah, you're not interested. no. For making dollars, you know, and I think i so. I think that that's why I kind of draw the parallel to Shadour there. Right.
00:28:52
Speaker
Right. There you go. But yeah, and like you said, and as we talked with Tony Altimore um last show, ah you know, yeah like he said, you know, this is this is something now that the schools are in and are in a new territory than they were even a year and a half ago.
00:29:11
Speaker
Right. Right. Because a year and half ago, the schools didn't didn't negotiate any of that stuff. That was all done through the collectives. right and now the schools are saying now the schools are directly involved you know so it it really becomes a very interesting uh your energy seeing how some of these schools are dealing with this and and making this work so yeah something something we're gonna it's an ever-changing landscape and we're just going to keep our eye on it uh more often than not i guess
00:29:43
Speaker
That's exactly right. Yeah, it's going to, it's, you know, no telling what things are going to look like a ah month or two months from now. Yeah. Yeah. And it's kind of a little quick note, speaking of the transfer portal and stuff.
00:29:56
Speaker
um And I don't remember when this was from. Hang on a second. ah You sent me this, I think it was ah April 19th.
00:30:07
Speaker
Okay. That the transfer portal opened, the spring portal opened. And ah this Joshua Carraway noted that there were currently at that time, and is so this has been almost a month and a half ago, or actually a month and a half ago, there there were currently at that time 10,271 players the transfer portal. Wow, wow. 6,426 were D1 players.
00:30:32
Speaker
players in the transfer portal wow well six thousand four hundred and twenty six were d one 3,845 were or looking to move up a rank, really about up a tier.
00:30:51
Speaker
um That's crazy. That is just crazy. mean At some point in time, and this is something Congress can't do anything about. I mean, I know we've talked about it before that the NCAA is waiting on Congress to do something. This is something Congress can't do anything about.
Impact of Transfer Portal on Recruiting Dynamics
00:31:07
Speaker
This is this this is totally going to be. And if if the athletic directors and the and the college presidents want to keep up with this wild, wild west, you know, fine, go for it.
00:31:18
Speaker
um But you're going to see this kind of mass exodus. And I think. As Brian Smith alluded, um and I think maybe Tony did, too, i'm actually i'm not sure which one did it, but, you know, anymore, it's not who you lose.
00:31:35
Speaker
Or who enters the transfer portal. It's who doesn't and who you can keep on your roster. Right. Right. You know, I mean, and just, you know, from a homegrown standpoint here, being over here ah ah in Illinois, you looking at at Brett Bielema's program.
00:31:53
Speaker
He was able to hold on to Luke Altmyer, a quarterback who I saw one ranking not that long ago that he was considered like the 11th best quarterback in NCAA right now going into this next season.
00:32:07
Speaker
um I mean, that's a far too early prediction, just like who figuring out who the top 25 is going to be when the season starts right now. well But, you know, but it's still, be and I think a lot of that is because he'll be at his third year at Illinois.
00:32:22
Speaker
you know So he's got the comfortability of of the team. he's got the but Most of the line is coming back. Most of the backfield is coming back. They are having to replace a couple receivers, ah but they've got the kids there, and they and they're picking up kids in the transfer portal as as we speak.
00:32:39
Speaker
um So I can see it where, where, what they were, what those guys, ah Tony and and Brian were talking about is, you know, who you keep, you know, who's, are you able to hold on to that's going to make, uh, um, make that, make your decisions in the portal or high school kids more solid and you know which way you're going to go the most, you know?
00:33:07
Speaker
So. ah One other question. I just heard this today, too. or Well, I actually heard this last week. I guess ah Illinois basketball has now signed a a reciprocal deal with Tennessee for the next two seasons.
00:33:27
Speaker
um This year, and in this basketball season, Illinois and Tennessee will play at the... at the not the Not Knoxville's home court, or not Tennessee's home court, but I think the – Are they playing in Nashville or Memphis? I think they play in Nashville.
00:33:47
Speaker
Nashville, okay, at the arena building. I forgot, Glidestone Arena. yeah is it fire Yeah, or Fieldstone or yeah whatever. fields yeah yeah yeah And then in 26 – and then the next season, Tennessee and Illinois will play at the – up in Chicago where the Bulls play.
00:34:07
Speaker
Okay. Okay, sure. Okay. Well, that's probably a good moneymaker. Oh, that's going to be a moneymaker for both schools, I think, for sure. yeah And yeah I think you're going to see a lot more deals like that, football and basketball.
00:34:19
Speaker
um I think because yeah I think teams are starting to see and, and you know, um Again, it was one of our guests, and I can't remember which one said it. the i think it was Tony, ah you know, mentioned that, you know, and and you've said it before, too, is the reason that you see a lot of these...
00:34:38
Speaker
um wannabe teams, as I call them, play the Alabamas and the Georgias and the Illinois and Ohio States, you know, ah it because there there it's the money they get from showing up.
00:34:50
Speaker
Right, exactly. But I think something we can't oh can't overlook, though, is that you know when you're playing that marquee team, in a place like the united center or the fieldstone arena or something like that you know um that's huge money makers for both schools so and it kind of takes the it it it takes because like said we said before football is your money maker but anything basketball can do to um alleviate some of that you know that's not a bad deal no no at all
00:35:27
Speaker
No, no, that's, you know, that's, that'll be, that'll be the TV money that comes in front of both schools. And probably there might be some time with both conferences, where there'd be some money shared on with the conferences.
00:35:41
Speaker
Yeah, so anyway. Yeah, I'm sure that's going to happen. so All right, well, we'll and we'll get back to our our program here momentarily.
00:35:52
Speaker
as though First, I want to talk to you about hydration. you know It's very important for maintaining good health, good hydration. The human body is made up of 50% to 70% water, and we lose in the and our average daily routine about 3% to 5% of our body our total body water.
Promotion of Liquid IV and Sustainability Commitment
00:36:10
Speaker
Now, if you're out like I was earlier today, working in the yard, in the hot and and humidity in heat and humidity, um you know your levels are going to get a little higher. is So you'd want to keep hydrating because if you can lose if you end up losing around 15% of your body water, can put you in a hospital.
00:36:27
Speaker
um And it doesn't sound like much. ah But proper hydration sometimes requires more than just drinking water. So many individuals, they only consume about half of the recommended amount of water each day.
00:36:38
Speaker
And know one solution is a hydration multiplier products like Liquid IV. Liquid IV is a popular sports drink in America delivers... twice the hydration ah than water, and three times the electrolytes of traditional sports drinks.
00:36:53
Speaker
Utilizes the cellular transport technology to enhance rapid absorption of water into the body and provides essential vitamins, like your you a lot of your bvis B vitamins, B3, 5, 6, 12, contains vitamin C. It's a non-GMO. It's soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free,
00:37:11
Speaker
I mean, hell, vegans can drink this stuff. You know, it's it's it's it's it's not a big thing. Liquid offers various formulas, including electrolyte replacement, energy hydration, immune boosting, dietary health that has a kombucha blend.
00:37:26
Speaker
ah They have a better sleep-through hydration. The flavors are all very light, refreshing, nothing, to me, no heavy aftertaste. I've tried a lot of them.
00:37:37
Speaker
You've got like golden cherry, ake, pineapple, strawberry lemonade, lemon lime, green grape, white peach. They even have a pina colada. You've got to provide the alcohol yourself for that one, though.
00:37:49
Speaker
ah They do have a sugar-free version that, instead of using artificial sweeteners, uses an amino acid blend. There's also a hydration formula designed for children, kids, available in flavors that they love like Concord Grape, Crisp Apple, Tropical Punch, Banana, Cotton Candy.
00:38:07
Speaker
Now, it comes in these little sticks. um and They call them a stick. It's like an in the individual little pouch. And you just dump that in a bottle of water and shake it up, and you've got an instant hydration multiplier.
00:38:20
Speaker
And you can take those little sticks anywhere, the beach, the gym, the office, of school, even on an airplane. you Did you know, I didn't know this, Russ, but humidity in an airplane is five to 12% less than the Sahara Desert.
00:38:34
Speaker
and That's dry. That's dry, man. ah And that leads to dehydration. And it's the dehydration that causes jet lag on long flights.
00:38:46
Speaker
So coffee and tea, which of course can contain caffeine or nowhere near any kind of hydration help. Alcohol doesn't help either. So just ask for a bottle of water, pop in a thing of liquid IV and you've got extra hydration. You can fight the jet lag.
00:39:02
Speaker
Liquid IV also cares about the world we live in. And they resource sustainable materials from family farms. They use 100% recycled materials in all of their packaging. And they have provided grants to help expand access to clean and abundant water in other countries. Last I saw was somewhere around almost... um $10 million dollars or something like that in other countries they've spent.
00:39:25
Speaker
They've also provided ah relief help in here and ah in the United States with the fires and the floods over the over the early part of the year. um They donated over 66,000 servings to first responders and victims.
00:39:42
Speaker
So go right now to liquid. what Well, actually, a week after the podcast, then go to liquidiv.com and use the code GC as a checkout and get 20% off. You can also shop better hydration using my link. And I got a special link over there, guys. It's zen.ai backslash talking sports on the bleachers and get 20% off anything you buy.
00:40:05
Speaker
So check out hydration multiplication. Go to liquidiv.com. Use the promo code GCS at checkout. All right. So, um, I see you had sent me another article and I can't, I have been struggling to find it and I can't seem to locate it.
00:40:26
Speaker
um, And, but I think it was in the works of my, and it actually might've been the whole, the ah whole idea which you were talking about earlier with the SEC and big 10 proposals.
00:40:40
Speaker
ah yeah I know we talked about it a while back. um Yeah. We talk football a lot um because, you know, that football is the King, but recently, and I, and I know, and not a lot of people,
00:40:56
Speaker
have have had a lot of problem with it. I have since they added four teams. ah But that's the basketball playoffs. And ah there are some people that are, that ah you know, there's always the people that that are that are crying about that.
00:41:11
Speaker
um They're talking now of adding another four teams to that. I've heard the rumblings of that. and I'm not, you know,
00:41:22
Speaker
i'm I'm just not a big fan of that idea. I mean, we've already got four play-in games, which I don't think need to be there to begin with. Because, i mean, if it it makes to me, it would make sense. If you're going to four play-in games, make them all 16 seats.
00:41:38
Speaker
Mm-hmm. You know, why do we have a play-in game for two 11 seats? It doesn't make any sense to me. No. um So I, I, I, I'm hoping at some point in time, they decide to, to address that.
00:41:53
Speaker
um As much as I love March madness and I love NCAA basketball. um That's the one thing I think that I've had a problem with is just how they've done that with the,
00:42:06
Speaker
with the seating. um good And you always get the same thing too. I mean, um they they target, and and I get it, you know, you you target the high the high teams and in all the and all the conferences, but at least they do kind of look at and a little bit better overall picture than what they did in the football.
00:42:29
Speaker
I mean, you know, with you know, Oh yeah. You know, with how they, they, they, so they slot the teams, but ah what's your thing on, on expanding the the basketball? I've never been far and I don't like the idea. i think it's working really well the way it is now.
00:42:45
Speaker
yeah ah You know, and the playing games never been, I was never a big fan of the playing games. They got the thing I think they could adjust. for fairness purposes, and I think I've said this before, Don, you've got some of the mid-major conferences who have one or one-bid leagues.
00:43:05
Speaker
and you've got a team that wins their conference championship, over season and they've had a really good year, but in the tournament they get taken out. yeah of you know Maybe even by a team that played 500 ball all year, the little team, and they get the NCAA bid and the other team doesn't.
00:43:23
Speaker
The really good team doesn't. ah and We've seen that happen before, and I think for fairness purposes, maybe they won't do play-in games. and in the under the current structure, ah you always use that as an opportunity to pick up some of those teams like that.
00:43:40
Speaker
That would be fine. I can see that. ah the The thing I've always advocated for is i' what I'd like to see them do is give the automatic bid to the regular season champion because they've proven it all year that they were the number one.
00:43:58
Speaker
Yeah. You know, give it to the regular season champion champion. And, you know, if there's a different champion in the conference tournament, OK, then they can be up for an at large bid.
00:44:10
Speaker
Right. you know um Because quite frankly, in many situations, they're going to probably going to be in the tournament anyway. um So it's not going to, it's not a big, and and I know i'm I'm arguing semantics with a lot of people, but i just I just don't think the tournament champion is the way to go as far as determining who gets that bid, basketball or football, to be honest with you. so Right, right.
00:44:36
Speaker
I know. So anyway, unfortunately, they don't listen to you and me. yeah No, no. I mean, they they've they've stopped listening. They stopped listening to me when I, when I told them they, they didn't know what they were talking about.
00:44:49
Speaker
so Right now, right now, of course, you know, football's their spring practices are all over and basketball. They're, I they guess they're going to start their little individual practices that they're allowed to do. Yeah.
00:45:04
Speaker
So I thought I'd take a quick look and just kind of give
NCAA Baseball and Softball Tournaments Overview
00:45:07
Speaker
a rundown. Right now, the big things going on are the NCAA men's baseball and women's softball. And...
00:45:17
Speaker
So I thought I'd take a quick look at those. I mean, we're like i would neither you or I know a lot about any of these teams. So ah to to to say we're we know what we're talking about here, I'm just kind of going to give you what the rundown looks like at this point.
00:45:32
Speaker
ah In the men's baseball side, if I could get this thing to just expand for me, it really would be nice. Oh, here we go. There we go. Whoops, too far.
00:45:45
Speaker
Oh, here we go. ah We've got coming up, ah it looks like the top but eight teams are, or 16 teams are left. ah You've got Vanderbilt is your number one seed. Texas.
00:46:01
Speaker
Arkansas, Auburn, North Carolina, LSU, Georgia, ah Oregon State, Florida State, Ole Miss, Clemson, Oregon, Coastal Carolina, Tennessee, UCLA, and Southern Miss, Wisconsin.
00:46:16
Speaker
um And that that is in the order of the how they were ranked. Who knew Vanderbilt was good at baseball? Yeah. ah yeah They're going to be playing, it looks like, all the way through the month of Yeah.
00:46:31
Speaker
um to get that to the regional finals. Then the super regionals are through our June 9th through or June 6th through June 9th. And the first day of the men's college world series will start on June 13th.
00:46:47
Speaker
So good luck to the 16 teams that are left and we'll see who comes out on top. So I can say the regionals start, uh, June 6th here. So they're just, uh, in a couple, couple, three days.
00:47:00
Speaker
um Looks like we've got Louisville versus Miami, Oregon State versus Florida State, North Carolina, Arizona, Auburn, Coastal Carolina. ah Looks like there's a couple other teams i did either I missed or didn't, or they don't have in there, right? but Oh, that was the original 16 teams. Okay, never mind.
00:47:24
Speaker
and That's not the 16 teams that are left. I got it. Okay, I get it now.
00:47:29
Speaker
let's see, so where would I leave off that? yeah Auburn versus Coastal Carolina, UCLA versus University of Texas San Antonio, Murray State and Duke, LSU, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
00:47:44
Speaker
So that's your region super regional pairings, and next said they'll battle it all out and see what happens. We'll come up with the was something come on June 13th, By the time we have our next podcast, I might have some more ah more information for you. on Going to the softball, they're already in their finals. Their championship is already set up, and it's going to be Texas versus Texas Tech.
00:48:14
Speaker
And that's going to start june that's goingnna start tomorrow, June
00:48:19
Speaker
And they'll play for three straight days. And then, of course, if they need or they'll play for two, the best of three, it looks like. So they're going to play June 4th and 5th and 6th if necessary.
00:48:32
Speaker
um This actually ends the year, the reign, if you will, of Oklahoma, who I think has won the college softball World Series the last three seasons in a row. My daughter would know more about that than I would.
00:48:47
Speaker
um So good luck to Texas and Texas Tech in women's softball. So there's that. So anything else we want to kick around tonight on NCAA stuff? Anything else you got sticking in your craw?
00:49:06
Speaker
No, I don't think so, Don. I think this is it was a good discussion on the yeah on on the ah the college playoffs, football playoffs.
00:49:17
Speaker
So that's really what's all that's been in the news lately. You know, and so it's going to be a little off and on with news on college football, college sports until we get to probably the 1st of August, I'm going to guess. I mean, I think probably we'll we' have a little bit more recruiting news coming around here and there because you still got some late signees and, and of course, basketball, right – and This is kind of a weird time of the year ah because you think more football is still going to be in it. And rightly so it is in some respects. But um I seem to have a lot more people wanting to talk to me about basketball right now.
00:49:55
Speaker
okay Okay. and a lot of it course, around here is is because of, um as as a lot of people are referring to it, the Balkan Five.
Illinois Basketball Updates with 'Balkan Five' Transfers
00:50:08
Speaker
um they the illinois ended up with five transfers. Well, three, two transfers. One's from Greece. The other one is from Serbia, I think, but he's, he's, um, the brother of, uh, Thomas Lava Visevic, um, uh,
00:50:29
Speaker
He's a kid that played at Arkansas. I can't think of his first name. Atop my head saved my life right now. But they picked up him. And then they picked up two kids. um ah One from ah Lithuania, I think. And another one from somewhere else in the Balkans.
00:50:46
Speaker
And it's considered that they they're they're kidding him around saying calling it the Balkan Five. Because we already have Tomislav on the team. so their brain So you could start and basically an all-Balkan lineup at Illinois. And a lot of people are having fun with that.
00:51:02
Speaker
um and they've they've even put there's a there's a And I have to send it to you. There's a picture of that they took of the five Balkan players and um Coach Underwood standing in front of them.
00:51:17
Speaker
And it looks like, it seriously, it looks like a hit squad. yeah they're all in They're all in like orange um ah track suits, and they're all just kind of standing there. They all got this little stern look on their face.
00:51:31
Speaker
It just looks like a mob boss with his five best hit men. I'll have to send it to you. It's funny as all get-in. ah But anyway, well, i want to thank everybody for coming along for the ride tonight and let you know that, again, we are – proud part of the gateway sports network. And if you want to, uh, uh, look at what we've, what the gateway sports has got, I I'm sorry. I'm all, I got all tongue tied there.
00:52:01
Speaker
Uh, but check it out at gateway sports.net. We've got a lot of different podcasts. We've got the two for three with a moose Michaels. We've got the, uh, Ron, Pete, and Elliott with the team of rivals. They talk Cardinals-Cubs, and sometimes they get into show business. ah You know, it it's that's their thing.
00:52:20
Speaker
ah they also We also have Ron and Chris Ambleton that get together for the soccer program at the park. Then there is my show, which went over and changed. we finally had the first I had the Eli Chapman on with my first show.
00:52:39
Speaker
um first show as the talking sports with uncle Don. and then there is, um two guys, ah Van Stratton and Capel who have the stupidest sports show on earth, which I still haven't listened to that yet. I gotta, I gotta to listen to that this week.
00:52:57
Speaker
Uh, and then of course there's always the one and only Derek King show with the one and only Derek King. Check all those out. You can check out articles. I put out a couple this last week and things of that nature. Russ, they can also find not not only find you at Gateway Sports, but where else can they find you today?
00:53:18
Speaker
Well, I'm at Russ at Blue Sky, Russ57 at Blue Sky. I'm at Uncle Frank, FR Robinson, one nine five seven and on X. And then I have a substat page called Russ's Ramblings.
00:53:37
Speaker
And occasionally I put up an article, occasionally I will lot of times I put things up on notes. So you can catch me one of those places, Don. so All right. Fantastic. Well, i not only add gateway sportss Gateway Sports, but I will be joining the writing staff of the Champagne Room for Illinois Sports ah fairly soon.
00:54:01
Speaker
that's ah that's ah That's a deal that's in the works. You can always find me on XTSOTBGCS. Or should say at TSOTBGCS. Always forget that. so And I have a blue sky account, but I can't remember what it is.
00:54:15
Speaker
yeah And you can always, in you can always find this, this program on Spotify on gateway sports. I will be looking at, and I was going to tell you about this. i might as well tell you now.
00:54:27
Speaker
i am looking at setting up a, um, um YouTube account for the, for, for my podcasts. Uh, so we'll probably sometime this summer be playing around with YouTube. So you might actually see us, which would be scary. It could be scary Yeah. Cause I, well, I've always been told I've had the face for radio.
00:54:51
Speaker
That's what I've been told. So anyway, well, for my partner, Russ Robinson, this is Don Glenn. We want to thank you guys for hanging out with us today and hope you enjoyed the show. If you did, let us know and we will see you again. So until then, have fun, stay safe.
00:55:07
Speaker
We'll talk to you later on the NCAA report with Don and Russ. Good night, everybody. Oops, wrong one.